Chip resistors are presently manufactured by applying a resistive element coating or film onto a flat sheet of insulating material, after which the sheet is cut up or diced into single chip components. End connections are then applied and fired in to each chip resistor, either in the form of regions of metallisation or as wrap-round end terminations.
It is common practice to adjust the electrical value of the resistive element coating applied to the sheet of insulating material to a precise value before cutting up the sheet into the separate chip components. This adjustment is usually carried out by trimming away some of the resistive element material with the aid of a laser. The terminations forming the connection at each end of a chip resistor have therefore subsequently to be fired in at a relatively low temperature, since otherwise the precise value of the resistor would be affected. However the metals used for the end terminations sinter less well at these relatively low temperatures and it is therefore often necessary to carry out an additional plating operation in order to improve the reliability of the terminations.